Back from GenCon

[akaihyo]

A really good trip overall, the most fun I can remember having at GenCon, mostly because I caught up with old friends. Now safely back in Athens and at Tyche's Games.

For the more geekily inclined,

Wens: Left from Athens, shuttle to Atlanta airport, flight to Indianapolis. This is the first time I have sat next to someone else going to GenCon, a Chris who worked for White Wolf. Interesting fellow, very chatty.

Arriving in Indianapolis, made my way to the Westin Hotel and checking. Dropped off my bags and headed over to the Convention Center where I met up with Dave Lapore of AEG only to be told I was not needed to help set up and to show up for the 8pm demo team meeting. So, met up with Remi (aka lesingesavant) and had a nice meal at Steak and Shake. Then we met up with Jason Morningstar and Clinton R. Nixon (who along with Remi form the Durham 3) along with some other indie game design people whose names I cannot remember. Talked for a bit, then back for the demo team meeting, then off to the Embassy Suites where I played Drowning and Falling with the Durham 3 crowd and some others. A silly game but fun. Then back to my room for some sleep.

Thur: Up early, grabbed a shower and off to an 8am writer's seminar. Ate breakfast and listens, a nice way to wake up. Then off to the exhibitors' hall to wander around before the hall opened to the public. Very nice, located the Z-Man Games booth and snagged some of the Mars Colonist promo cards for the Shadowfist expansion. I would not catch up with the Shadowfist games people until later in the Con though. Then to the AEG booth to demo L5R for the next six hours. Upside, the next L5R demo decks are very slick and easy to use, downside, it is still six solid hours of demos. Spent some more time exploring the hall, ending up at the forge booth where I got to demo AGON, the game of heroes in mythic greece, and Dictionary of MU, a dark fantasy setting using the Sorcerer rules. In both cases the creator of the game was running the demo, very slick and very quick (15 minute demos!).

Met up with Remi afterwards and did something . . . My memory is very hazy. I cannot pin down Thursday night at all. I think I ended up watching Remi play part of a Mechaton, a lego-based mecha combat, game before I got too tied to watch any more.

Fri: Again, up, shower, writing panel with breakfast and exhibitors' hall. I am informed that I will have to change hotel rooms, as I am in with the Tournament Organizers and not with my fellow demo team members (oh, we are called Bounty Hunters by the by). Annoying but livable. Busy day, given my break in the middle of the day, wandered, demoed something, I think. Meet up with the Allen Hege, the guy running Shadowfist games, at last. Found the art show. Visited briefly with Beth Trott and Drew Baker there.

Afterward, wondered off to the CCG room and talked with Ken Carpenter about the World's Largest City, which should be out by the end of the year. Colsen, the chief tornament organizer, who I had been rooming with talked me into playing in the L5R draft tiournament, where I got wallowed but got a bunch of nice cards for my trouble. Then off to grab a bite to eat and watch the last half of Jet City Improv's show.

After which Remi and I headed off to play AGON with the Remi, John Harper (the creator of the game) and another gentleman whose name I cannot remember, the 'Antagonist' (or GM) of the session was Wilhelm (spelling unsure and last name unknown). Interesting game with lots of interaction between the players, learned a lot of how the system played and had fun. Then off to bed. Oh, the character creation system for AGON is so straight forward that I was able to build almost all of my character from just the description of it John had given at the demo!

Sat: Up not so early, missed the writing panel but made the early entrance to the exhibit hall. Ran across Drew, who was also looking around, and mentioned the lego mecha game. It turns out that Vincent Baker who made the games is Drew's older brother! Small world. Then demo, demo, demo until Noon, when I went off to lunch with comicmonkey, very nice lunch (thanks again for it!) and it was great to catch up. It has been something around three or four years since we last got to chat for any length of time. Then he had to go off an demo his game, Dawning Star, I had another hour to wonder the hall before more demo madness.

Afterwards, a bunch of us bounty hunters got to help prepare the give-aways for the L5R presentation that night, which we got to watch as well. I met and congratulated the two new story-team members who were there, may as well be gracious in defeat, and offered my help to them and Shawn. No point in burning bridges. Afterwards helped to move banners and things from the presentation back to the CCG room. Then visited the Shadowfist room, checked out the Embassy Suites open gaming (with no luck finding a space) and then back to the CCG room where I chatted with some L5R players before ending up borrowing a deck to play some multi-player Shadowfist until the wee hours of the morning.

Sun: Last day, up extra early to make sure I could get the shower first (I ended up rooming with four other Bounty Hunters) and then off to breakfast and writing panel. You know the drill by now. Actually starting buying things, got six GURPS sourcebooks from SJG for $20, some nice bookmarks for Laura, two magnets with lovely art from Beth Trott and a Cosmo the Moon Monkey! Demo, demo, demo. The dealers room closes at 4pm to a cheer! Help clean up a bit, get some swag (including a Box of Greed full of rares and promo card for AEG's three CCGs) and head to my room. Pack every inch of my two bags full to capacity (I even had to leave some of the promo stuff I had acquired behind!) and off the the Indianapolis airport, extra early because of the security alert. Grabbed a bite to eat and then breezed through security, even with having to go through the metal detector twice, in fact it was the quickest I had ever gone through the security there.

Two and a half hour in the airport, hour flight to Atlanta, half an hour on the ground waiting for a bay to disembark through. Did finish His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik which was great fun, I will be picking up the other books in the series soon. Finally on the ground, was met by my sweet wife Laura and we went home.

Another wonderful GenCon experience.

Comments

[lesingesavant.livejournal.com]

Just a quick note, you played Agon with Jonathan Walton and Wilhelm Fitzpatrick (I believe that's his name). Jonathan just published Push vol. 1, a book of essays on RPG theory. I had a ball in that game. Let's play again soon!